Just For You
by TheNocturne
Summary: Why is Hoagie avoiding Abby before her birthday? The dark-skinned girl is determined to find out. One-shot, with Hoagie/Abby implied.


**For Jess' challenge!**

**She wanted us to write a piece about Abby and Hoagie, not make it too unbearably fluffy, and to include the word rice.**

**You can check. 'Rice' is in there. ;D**

**Anyway, I probably should have taken more time to work on this, but I'm going to be so busy during the month of November that I won't have time. So this is what you get, Jess, and I hope you enjoy it! I loved writing it.**

**Abby and Hoagie, you **_**are**_** adorable. **

**I hope you guys have a great weekend! Tomorrow (today) is Friday, whoo-hoo!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own. Saddd.**

**Love, Sadie**

--

The evening was colorful and dancing, with rays from the sunset bouncing off reflective surfaces and creating lights around the room. The kitchen looked like a scene for a party, with the yellow lights and the glinting surfaces. And considering the occasion, it was appropriate.

Only Abby didn't feel like celebrating.

She didn't understand. Her birthday was coming up – a momentous occasion in their group of friends, birthdays were always celebrated as a big deal. When it had been Kuki's birthday, they all had taken her to a theme park and let her have a day where she could run about through the park with reckless abandon. After purchasing her cotton candy, ice cream, and little rice cakes, she had declared it the best day ever and went to sleep that night, nestled against Wally's chest on the couch.

On Wally's birthday, they had all gone to a wrestling match in a large ring with thousands of screaming fans. Although Kuki had winced during each particularly brutal blow, they had all enjoyed it for the most part, and treated Wally to the biggest plate of nachos that he had ever consumed, afterwards. Later that night, after an extensive hot dog eating contest and a night of video games with Hoagie, Wally had retired to his room with a large grin gracing his features.

When Nigel's birthday had rolled around, they had all taken a trip to visit Rachel, and shuttled into space to see all the sights that Nigel had always wanted to see, but had never gotten the chance to because of their myriad of missions. They had imported a large tub of pistachio ice cream and raised a toast to their eternal friendship. After leaving Nigel on Moonbase, to give him a weekend with Rachel before he had to come back, and then they flew back, praising the day as a success.

And when Hoagie reached his birthday, they had all, after many days of convincing, jumped out of a plane with him and parachuted to the ground. While Kuki had clung to Wally's hand with bloodless white knuckles, Abby had tried to imitate the many tricks that Hoagie had performed with ease. After they had touched lightly on the ground, they went to a buffet, where they chattered happily in the dim atmosphere, and Hoagie had thanked them all before retiring to his plane-shaped bed.

And now it was night before Abby's birthday, and it was shaping up to be a good one, except for the lack of her best friend.

To be honest, he had been missing for days. She had seen glimpses of him at breakfast and dinner, and sometimes when they all went out together. But he always seemed distracted on these outings, and had that look that she knew well – that look, the one that furrowed up his face and made his eyes glaze, like he was off in an entirely different universe, like he was trying to figure out how to connect cogs and wires and circuits. And when she went to his room, it was locked.

She had questioned the others about his odd behavior and gotten absolutely nothing from them.

"Maybe he's out with a friend!" Kuki would chirp every time she asked.

"I dunno," was the only response that she could drag out of Wally.

"I expect he's busy, he's a very busy person," repeated Nigel, as though Abby wasn't aware of this.

But too busy to make time for a best friend?

The only theories that Abby could fathom included an alien abduction or a Hoagie clone that had been created deep underground in a metallic lab filled with white-coated lab rats. Or maybe he had just decided that he didn't like her anymore.

That wasn't a good thought for a birthday.

Later, as she did every year, Abby sat in front of the clock, waiting for it to hit midnight so that she could be the first to wish herself a happy birthday. Cross-legged in thick pajamas, she did not look away from the digital clock that proudly displayed the time in greenish light. 11:56.

And she filled each minute with memories.

Graduating the Kids Next Door and moving onto the Teens Next Door, proudly leaving her immaturity behind for a new hood of responsibility. Abandoning her navy blue, loose-hanging shirt of a pair of long blue jeans and a navy blue jacket that hugged her frame. Cutting notches on the door frame to mark how she had sprouted like a weed and was now a gangly yet graceful teenager that had grown to fill the shoes that her family had left for her.

11:57.

That night around the bonfire when they had decided, all five of them, that they were going to be friends forever. That no matter what happened, or where they went, that they would remember each other forever. That they would always be the stalwart Nigel, the humorous Hoagie, the delightful Kuki, the courageous Wally, and the relaxed Abby – the team that would last until the end of their days, always supporting each other and always standing up for each other when forced to face the cruelties of life.

11:58.

Various birthdays, filled with candles and cake and friends. Dances with Kuki, where she had taught the girl how to pop, lock, and drop it like a real girl. Competitions with Wally and Nigel, where she would prove that she could take them like a real man. Chilled afternoons with Hoagie, spent in the upper reaches of the treehouse, beyond the reaches of any prying ears. Laughter and light and warmth, all smoldering in that special area of her chest, the piece that she reserved for her most magical moments.

11:59.

"Abby?"

The girl whirled around to meet the startled eyes of the boy she had just been reflecting on, who was looking at her as though she had just grown another appendage out of her side. She indeed looked odd – cross-legged and propped awkwardly on a stool, so that she could sit in the middle of the kitchen floor, directly in front of the clock – but that was no reason for him to look at her so oddly.

"What're you doing?" the boy asked, glancing around their surroundings to search for an explanation of her strange position. He should have guessed her reason for staying up to such a specific hour –_ unless he had forgotten about her birthday? The thought filled her with horror _– and so she shrugged nonchalantly, letting him make his own conclusions.

"The real question is," she asked in return, "what have you been doing? Abby hasn't seen you in days." Her voice was thick with accusing insinuations. Luckily for the boy, he had the decency to look somewhat ashamed, although he quickly masked it over with an innocent look.

"Busy." As if to match her nonchalance, he shrugged slightly, and then glanced at the clock. His eyes returned to her, and his smile reached their depths when he whispered, "Happy birthday."

Her own lenses flew to the clock, where it was indeed 12:00. But it was more important to her that he had been the first to say it, and her eyes turned to him with a soft kind of joy. "You remembered."

A look of indignant offense passed over his face, as though this statement struck deep within him. "Abby Lincoln," he said, with the stern voice of a disgruntled friend, "did you honestly think that I would forget your birthday?"

"Well, you've been busy," she reminded him, hiding the fact that she was delighted with his remembering.

"I've been working on something."

And then his face came _alive_.

With sparkling lenses, he beckoned her away, and with a slight show of confusion, she slid off of her stool to follow him. His mysterious aura was working, for she had no idea what he could possibly have to show her. When she realized that they were on their way to his room, a shot of excitement flooded through her veins. His best inventions were kept in the secrecy of his room.

At the doorstep, he halted her. "Wait here." And then he was gone, in the shadows of his room, leaving Abby outside in the dim hallway. She wrapped her arms around herself to keep the chill out of the pores of her skin, and waited patiently for him to return.

Then he was there, with a little box inside of his hands. On the top was a switch, but when she made to open it, he stopped her. "Open it inside of your room, okay?" With a secretive smile, he gave her a quick goodnight, and then slipped back into his room and left her alone in the hallway.

Curiously, Abby practically sprinted back to her room, slamming the door shut and whirling around so that she could face the empty space of her room. It was killing her to see what was inside of the box, and so without waiting any further, she flipped the switch, and nearly shrieked when the box began to spark, letting it fall to the ground.

It began to throw sparks into the air, letting them rain down onto her floor before skipping across the surface and eventually disappearing. And then the sides flew open, and fireworks began to whirl through the air, exploding into glittery showers that filled the room with her most-loved colors. She could even catch the faint scent of cinnamon in the explosions, the scent that Hoagie knew was her absolute favorite.

And then the words, created by fireworks in the air, "Happy Birthday, Abs," flashing in front of her, for her eyes alone. And then at last the whole box exploded, and a little note fluttered out from the very core, its edges slightly burned from the massive display that had occurred around the area in which it had been concealed.

_Abby,  
I've been working on this for a while, now, and I can tell that you're getting frustrated. It's not that I mean to put you off, it's just that I want to get this finished. Because if anyone deserves an imploding birthday, it's you.  
You'll get your other birthday presents tomorrow (or technically today!), but this is mine. I wanted you to have mine first.  
It's because you have such an _explosive_ personality.  
And don't you roll your eyes at that, the pun wasn't even _that_ bad._

_Happy birthday, best friend.  
- Hoagie_

Smiling, Abby tucked the note away, and slipped into her bed. It wasn't until she had pulled her covers up to the tip of her nose that she realized that there was warmth spreading once more in that unique area in the caverns of her chest.


End file.
